Color by numbers- Hubs using rivalry win to get out of red

September 07, 2000

Color by numbers- Hubs using rivalry win to get out of red

By DAN KAUFFMAN / Staff Writer

photo: JOE CROCETTA/ staff photographer

It was North Hagerstown's only victory last season - a 35-13 thumping of winless South Hagerstown in the annual city classic. It's a victory Hubs coach Glenn Cross believes is the stepping stone to better things.

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"I think they realized at that point how good they could be," Cross said. "We had key players in the weight room ... we have attitude now."

Attitude is something North hasn't had a lot of over the past several seasons. The Hubs have opened the last few seasons as a contender in the Monocacy Valley Athletic League, only to be turned into a pretender by mistakes and big plays.

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Cross says he has a more dedicated team this season, a team that was sparked by last season's game against South.

"I've seen in these kids the same things I saw in the late-80s and early-90s teams here," Cross said. "These are the same kind of kids with the same kind of attitude, the same kind of togetherness. It's been positive, and we're gonna win some football games.

"It's a matter of focusing for the entire ballgame. ... There's more focus, more commitment than we've had in a long time."

As far as X's and O's, North's system remains the same. Cross says the difference this year is the number of weapons at the Hubs' disposal. Chris Campbell, Zach Stowe, Paul Berry and Travis Yeates will all see playing time in the backfield, and any one of them could become North's main rushing threat.

"All of them are game breakers," Cross said. "You're gonna have to cover all those guys. There's nights one guys will get 20 carries, and others he may get five. We're going to attack other team's weaknesses."

The Hubs will have to overcome their own weaknesses quickly. They come in to today's game against Bowie shorthanded, as linebacker Frank McAllister had knee surgery and is out for two to six weeks and first-string quarterback Tanner Cross will miss the opener with a strained MCL.

But, Cross once again has high hopes for his Hubs. North's last winning season was in 1991, its last .500 season one year later. Is this the year the Hubs become the center of Washington County football again?

"I think this is the year," Cross nods. "I don't have any doubt this is the year."